US boosts Indian IT professionals' green card dreams

NEW DELHI: In what comes as a cheerful news for thousands of Indians in the US, the US Congress has passed a Bill overhauling the immigration system which will allow a much larger number of highly-skilled immigrants from India to obtain permanent residence status or 'green card' more easily.

Currently, the wait for a green card for highly-skilled Indians, under the most common employment-based immigrant visa category, could go up to 70 years. The Fairness for High-Skilled Immigration Act, which now aims at eliminating the dreaded per-country caps on employmentbased visas and instituting a first-come, first-served system, found broad, bipartisan support, in the US House of Representatives.

It was passed with a vote of 389-15 on Tuesday. It is now expected that the Bill will also move through the US Senate quickly. In addition to eliminating numerical caps on employment-based green cards, the Act will also raise the per country cap for 226,000 family-related green cards from 7% of the total to 15%.

Welcoming the passage of the Bill in the House of Representatives, Cyrus D Mehta, Wall Street-based immigration lawyer, said that if passed, the new Act will come as a breather for thousands of highly-skilled Indian IT professionals who are stuck in the green card pipeline for many years.

"There are many Indian IT professionals, including those with advanced educational degrees. They are waiting in the US on H1B extensions since many years now. The passage of this Bill, which will see green card applications dealt with on a first-come firstserved basis, rather than on country-based quotas, comes as a huge relief for many Indians in the US and their families," Mehta said.

Life on the green card queue is very tough for both the individuals and their families. "Among other hardships that they face, spouses cannot seek employment and often children who become adults during the long wait are left to fend for themselves," Mehta added.